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Sunday, February 26, 2006

Here is my little journal quilt for January. We were experiencing a beautiful Hoar Frost when I made this. I'd had the yarn for years, just saving it for the right project.The woven background of black & gray have random winter words written on them with gel & Pigma pens. The greenish Aurora running through the borders is actually "Whisper", a transparent cellophane-like fiber that is supposed to be for making big bows for packages & floral arrangements. It looks clear by itself, but became iridescence against the black snowflake background fabric. I made the 2 ravens from polymer clay. I love the ravens up here. They cavort & chortle. I can't help but smile watching them . They're such funny fellows.

Here's my Aussie Challenge quilt. It won viewer's choice at the Queensland Quilt Guild in October 2005. It's made of hand-dyed batting with random bits of the challenge fabric among others, bits of metal mesh (this was the first time I sewed on metal), & lots of thread painting & hand beading. I'll have to photograph it again on a dark background when it comes home, it'll show up better on black.

I named it "Why?", because so often I've looked at an abstract piece of art, & wondered "Why?". My answer to that question in this case was, "I just wanted to have some fun!"

There he is, my little furry, 4 legged child, Broccoli (don't ask), he was very interested in the little felted wool egg I made. I wonder if it smells like sheep. Today is a RED SATIN PAJAMA DAY. It's working into a blizzard outside. I've built a good fire in the wood stove for Auntie E. & it's a Saturday, my favorite day to turn on PBS & sew along with my friend Sue Hausmann, & Nancy Zieman, & Fons & Porter. The red satin is my uniform for working on a big quilt. It lets the quilt slide instead of hanging up on my clothes as I do my free-motion quilting. Of course being in Alaska means I also have to wear my long-johns underneath the PJ's. I find that this is a better choice than quilting naked. I've often thought that would be a fun title for a book, "The Naked Quilter". So now I'm going to go down to my studio & work on "the Barn Quilt". It's as big as a barn, & makes me wish I had that Longarm machine that I'll get someday. (sigh) At least I have a studio now. I am very grateful.

Friday, February 24, 2006

I Googled to see if Quards was an original word that I made up, or if it was out there somewhere already. Well it was, but not in the context that I intended it to be used. I'm calling the Quilt-Cards that I like to make "Quards". I just finished a series of 10 of them like these for Thank-you notes for our Alaska Fiber Festival. They were a lot of fun to make. The salmon color background is Warm & Natural cotton batting that I hand-dyed. The background fabric was one of my paint clean up cloths (from fabric painting). I played with some Shiva Oil Paint sticks to add a little texture to the cloth, then when heat setting with the iron, I used the "Creative Opportunities" page from the local paper to iron the fabric on. Some of the paint colored the paper, making it quite pretty, so I ripped pieces of the newsprint & glued it to the top, then drizzled on a sliver of pretty colors, & framed it with bits of a black print. Pure creative FUN!

Thursday, February 23, 2006

Here I am, wishing to journal, & I've decided to try & join the cyber age by blogging. I am a 50+ grandma, quilter, fiber artist, & working full time RN. Don't I have enough to do already?

My daughter inspires me though. I am so proud of my Michelle. My heart is so full of love for her & my grandgirl, & my 2 sons too. I wish I could do more for them. I think if I were one of those meatpacker people who just won millions, I'd be paying off the student loans, & buying each of them a good car & a nice home. Then for Darian I'd set up a college fund.Thats what I'd do if I could win millions. Nice to dream about.

Today I will give aunt Ethel & perm & cut her hair. She is 92, & beginning to have bouts of confusion. You never know when it'll happen. She goes along just fine for hours, then all of a sudden she says "Can you take me home? I can't find my keys". It's so sad. My heart aches for her. She has lived with us for almost 3 years already. Sometimes she's a pain in the rear, but when she's like this, I just want to cry for her. Will Warren & I end up like that? Will someone want to care for us then? That million would help then wouldn't it.

Tonight while warren works I'll work on the Calander Girls Barn quilt. I have got to get it done!